First Edition: July 14, 2023

KFF Health News: How A Combination Of Covid Lawsuits And Media Coverage Keeps Misinformation Churning
Public health has had its day in court lately. And another day. And another day. Over the course of the pandemic, lawsuits came from every direction, questioning public health policies and hospitals’ authority. Petitioners argued for care to be provided in a different way, they questioned mandates on mask and vaccine use, and they attacked restrictions on gatherings. (Tahir, 7/14)

KFF Health News: A Plan To Cut Montana’s Medicaid Waiting List Was Met With Bipartisan Cheers. Then A Veto
Montana state Sen. Becky Beard thought she’d found a fix for a shortage of assisted living care options for Montanans who can’t afford to pay for it themselves — a shortage she became aware of while searching for a suitable place for her mother to live. (Denison, 7/14)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: The Long Road To Reining In Short-Term Plans
President Biden made good on a campaign promise this week with a proposal that would limit short-term health insurance plans that boast low premiums but also few benefits. (Rovner, 7/13)

AP: Opill, The First Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill, Gets FDA Approval
Perrigo submitted years of research to the FDA to show that women could understand and follow instructions for using the pill. Thursday’s approval came despite some concerns by FDA scientists about the company’s results, including whether women with certain underlying medical conditions would understand that they shouldn’t take the drug. The FDA’s action only applies to Opill. It’s in an older class of contraceptives, sometimes called minipills, that contain a single synthetic hormone and generally carry fewer side effects than more popular combination hormone pills. (Perrone, 7/13)

The Washington Post: What To Know About Opill, The First U.S. Over-The-Counter Birth Control Pill
“This is historic and transformative for reproductive rights without having to go to a physician, which presents a barrier to many people,” according to Julie Maslowsky, an associate professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health. She was a scientific consultant for HRA Pharma, a subsidiary of Perrigo that submitted the application to the FDA for approval. (Malhi, 7/13)

The New York Times: Aspartame Is Possibly Linked To Cancer In Humans, The WHO Says
A World Health Organization agency declared on Thursday that aspartame, an artificial sweetener widely used in diet drinks and low-sugar foods, could possibly cause cancer. A second W.H.O. committee, though, held steady on its assessment of a safe level of aspartame consumption. By some calculations using the panel’s standard, a person weighing 150 pounds could avoid a risk of cancer but still drink about a dozen cans of diet soda a day. (Jewett, 7/13)

The New York Times: Aspartame And Cancer: What To Know About The WHO’s Advice
According to the W.H.O., it is safe to consume up to 40 milligrams of aspartame per kilogram of body weight per day. Using diet soda as a measure, the limit means that, by some estimates, a 150-pound person would need to drink more than a dozen cans each day to surpass it. (Blum, 7/13)

NBC News: In Already-Brutal Heat, States Scramble To Prepare For Record Temperatures
“We know that when it’s 119 degrees out, that means it’s going to be 120 [degrees] plus in your home,” said Jay Kline, the general manager at Penguin Air, Plumbing & Electrical. “We’re making sure that we have as much coverage as we can to help if people’s air conditioners break in this crazy, extreme heat.” (Chow, 7/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Weather: Powerful Heat Dome To Bring Scorching Temps
A high-pressure system will grow in size and intensity starting Thursday, ramping up the dangerous heat wave predicted for California this weekend. Weather models are in agreement that the high pressure will expand into California over the course of Thursday and Friday, covering everything from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada. (Díaz, 7/13)

AP: Maryland Announces First Heat-Related Death Of Year 
Maryland announced the first heat-related death of the year in the state on Thursday. A 52-year-old man died in Cecil County, the state’s health department said. (7/13)

The Washington Post: How Bad Is A Phoenix Heat Wave? The Perils Of Burning Pavements, Water Hoses
The city’s hospitals and firefighters this week have been trying to help people who are seared by pavement that can register 160 degrees or hotter. They are treating patients whose temperatures are running as much as 10 degrees above normal by injecting them with frigid IV fluids, blasting them with evaporative cooling fans, and placing them in what look like small inflatable kayaks filled with ice. (Partlow, 7/13)

The New York Times: Defense Bill’s Fate Teeters After G.O.P. Wedges In Social Issues
The fate of the annual defense bill was in doubt on Friday, after Republicans loaded the legislation with a raft of conservative social policy restrictions limiting access to abortions, gender transition procedures and diversity training for military personnel, alienating Democrats whose votes G.O.P. leaders had seen as crucial to passing the legislation. (Demirjian, 7/14)

Reuters: US Lawmakers Make Bipartisan Push For Psychedelics Research In Defense Bill
A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Thursday pushed to include a provision allowing medical research of psychedelic drugs as part of a sweeping annual defense policy bill, saying it could help treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments despite possible concerns. "These are powerful substances, I don't want to give that short shrift," Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who first sponsored a bill on the topic in 2019, told a Capitol Hill press conference. "But they also have powerful potential as well." (Warburton, 7/13)

Reuters: US Govt Tells Vaccine Makers To Price Updated COVID Shots Reasonably
COVID vaccine makers should price their updated shots for the fall at a reasonable rate that would reflect the benefits they received through government investments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday. The U.S. government will also launch a $1 billion "Bridge Access Program" for this fall, to help those without insurance and the underinsured to continue getting vaccines and treatments at no cost. (7/13)

Reuters: Uninsured US Patients Pay Up To $330 For Eli Lilly’s $25 Insulin, Senator Warren Says
Americans without health insurance pay an average of $98 for Eli Lilly’s generic insulin despite the company’s May 1 pledge to cut its list price to $25 per vial, according to a survey of more than 300 U.S. pharmacies by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office released on Thursday. (Wingrove, 7/13)

Reuters: U.S. Watchdog Lifts Price Estimate For Bluebird, Vertex/CRISPR Gene Therapies To $2.1 Million
An influential U.S. drug pricing watchdog raised the price estimate of two experimental gene therapies from Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX.O)/CRISPR Therapeutics and bluebird bio (BLUE.O) to as much as $2.05 mln, saying the new price can be cost effective to treat sickle cell disease. (Satija, 7/13)

The Washington Post: White House Planning To Tap Retired General To Lead New Pandemic Office
The White House is planning to name a longtime military health official to lead its new pandemic preparedness office amid growing concerns that efforts to brace for the next global health crisis are flagging. Maj. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, who retired from the military this summer and joined the National Security Council to work on biodefense and global health security, is the planned selection to lead the White House’s Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a pending personnel move. (Diamond, 7/13)

The New York Times: Democrats Try A Novel Tactic To Revive The Equal Rights Amendment
Democrats in Congress are making a fresh push for the nearly century-old Equal Rights Amendment to be enshrined in the Constitution, rallying around a creative legal theory in a bid to revive an amendment that would explicitly guarantee sex equality as a way to protect reproductive rights in post-Roe America. (Karni, 7/13)

Politico: Biden Administration Proposes Cutting Physician Pay By 3.3 Percent
The proposed cut is already getting blowback from some provider groups. The Medical Group Management Association said the cut “further increases the gap between physician practice expenses and Medicare reimbursement rates.” This is the second consecutive year physicians face a cut to Medicare payments. Last November, CMS finalized a 4 percent pay cut for 2023. (King, 7/13)

Politico: House Subcommittee Approves Permanent Tax Breaks For Telehealth Plans
The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee advanced legislation in a largely partisan fashion Thursday that would permanently allow employers to offer telehealth as a tax-free benefit separate from their group health insurance plans. Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig — a sponsor of the bill — was the lone Democrat joining Republicans in a 16-11 vote. (Leonard, 7/13)

Politico: Hospitals Could Face New Price Transparency Requirements
CMS proposed major changes to how hospitals post prices for certain services in a bid to make them easier for consumers to understand. The agency included new requirements for hospital charge data in the proposed Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule released Thursday. The rule, which lays out payment rates and policy changes for 2024, creates a template for hospitals to share data intended to help consumers price shop. (King, 7/13)

Politico: Emergency Room Visits Linked To Cannabis Spiked During Pandemic
Emergency department visits related to cannabis use increased among people under the age of 25 during the pandemic and have remained elevated, according to a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Demko, 7/13)

The Hill: Cannabis-Related ER Visits Rose Among Young People During Pandemic
The CDC observed data on ER visits from 2019 to 2022 among people under the age 25. In total, there were 539,106 cannabis-involved emergency department (ED) visits during this period in that demographic, with the weekly average of visits rising significantly across younger age groups. Among children younger than 10, the average number of weekly pot-related ED visits rose from 30.4 in 2020 to 71.5 in 2022, compared to ranging from 18.7 to 23.2 in 2019. (Choi, 7/13)

AP: Online, 'Unalive' Means Death Or Suicide. Experts Say It Might Help Kids Discuss Those Things
Amber Samuels, a 30-year-old therapist in Washington, D.C., who has used “unalive” in her own social accounts, says that she has heard clients use it and similar euphemisms in speech. To her, “it doesn’t feel abnormal or unusual.” “I think when we avoid using specific language to talk about suicide and sexual assault, we risk contributing to a culture of silence and shame surrounding these topics,” Samuels says. “In the case of social media, though, it’s the avoidance of using the actual, uncensored word that allows awareness and conversations to even be possible.” (McMillan, 7/14)

AP: Eating Limits Of Fish From North Carolina River Recommended Due To "Forever Chemical"
North Carolina health officials formally recommended on Thursday limits on eating certain fish caught from portions of the Cape Fear River due to health concerns from a substance within the family of “forever chemicals.” The state Department of Health and Human Services issued a consumption advisory for species of freshwater fish from the middle and lower Cape Fear River south of Fayetteville to north of Wilmington because of exposure to what’s called perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, of PFOS. (7/13)

CIDRAP: More Than A Third Of COVID Survivors In Italy Had Persistent Symptoms At 2 Years
Of 230 COVID-19 survivors in Italy infected during the first pandemic wave, 36.1% still had symptoms at 2 years, finds a study published today in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. A University of Insubria–led team interviewed 230 hospitalized and nonhospitalized adults followed at Udine Hospital 6, 12, and 24 months after illness onset in March to May 2020. Average patient age was 54.7 years, 53.5% were women, and 95.6% had received an mRNA vaccine booster. (Van Beusekom, 7/13)

CIDRAP: COVID Vaccine Boosters Protect Cancer Patients From Poor Outcomes, Study Suggests
Cancer patients and survivors in Singapore derived significant protection from severe COVID-19 after three or four vaccine doses for at least 5 months, according to a nationwide study published today in JAMA Oncology. (Van Beusekom, 7/13)

CIDRAP: Ambulance Personnel Felt High Stress During Pandemic 
In a study this week in PLOS One, researchers describe the mental health impact of the pandemic on ambulance personnel, showing through the findings of six studies that as many as 92.2% felt a psychological burden while working during COVID-19. (Soucheray, 7/13)

CIDRAP: Resistance Accelerated In Multiple-Strain Bacterial Infections, Study Finds
A study led by researchers at the University of Oxford provides new insight into how antimicrobial resistance evolves in patients with bacterial infections. The study, published this week in Nature Communications, found that in patients colonized with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, resistance evolved more rapidly in response to antibiotic treatment among those with multiple strains of the pathogen, compared with those with a single strain. (Dall, 7/13)

Bloomberg: ‘Superagers’ With Good Memories Linked To Mobility, Physical Quickness
Possessing a remarkable memory later in life is linked to better mobility and physical quickness, according to a study that sheds light on the factors that shape how people age. Superagers, people who are at least 80 years old and have the memories normally seen in those in their 50s or 60s, are more agile and mobile than their peers, according to a study published Thursday in the Lancet Healthy Longevity medical journal, and score better on tests for anxiety and depression. (Griffin, 7/13)

Reuters: Johnson & Johnson Sues Researchers Who Linked Talc To Cancer
Johnson & Johnson has sued four doctors who published studies citing links between talc-based personal care products and cancer, escalating an attack on scientific studies that the company alleges are inaccurate. (7/13)

Reuters: Caribou's Cell Therapy Shows Promise In Early-Stage Cancer Study
Caribou Biosciences Inc (CRBU.O) said on Thursday its experimental CAR T-cell therapy helped clear all signs or decrease tumor size in 94% of patients being treated for a type of cancer in the lymph nodes in a small, early-stage trial. (7/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: One Big Way S.F.’s Oldest Hospital Could Change Under UCSF
A proposal for UCSF to absorb St. Mary’s Medical Center into its vast medical network has rattled some of its senior doctors and prompted questions about what would happen if the Catholic institution transformed into a secular hospital. Under current ownership, St. Mary’s employees are technically required to follow the Catholic Church’s ethical and religious directives, which ban contraceptives, abortions, sterilization and gender care. (Mishanec, 7/13)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Aspirus To Expand Into Minnesota In Deal With Duluth Hospital System
A Duluth-based health system is joining Wausau-based Aspirus Health, in yet another consolidation of regional hospital systems, the two announced on Wednesday. If the deal is ultimately approved, St. Luke’s, a system with two hospitals, would become the newest member of Aspirus' health system, said Andy Napgezek, a spokesman for Aspirus. (Volpenhein, 7/13)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pew Charitable Trusts Awards Millions To Philly Nonprofits
Five Philadelphia organizations working on child and youth mental health will receive a combined $6.55 million in grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts to expand access to services, the national nonprofit announced Thursday. (Gutman, 7/13)

AP: Houston To Spend Millions To Relocate Residents Living Near Polluted Union Pacific Rail Yard
Houston plans to spend millions of dollars to relocate residents from neighborhoods located near a rail yard polluted by a cancer-linked wood preservative that has been blamed for an increase in cancer cases, the city’s mayor announced Thursday. (Lozano, 7/13)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan Hospitals To Study, Address Health Inequities In Kids' Care
Michigan’s three largest children’s hospitals are teaming up in what they say is a historic collaboration to look for inequities in how pediatric patients are treated. The goal is to address differences in the quality of patient care associated with gender, race and ethnicity, income, disability, sexual orientation, weight and more. (Jordan Shamus, 7/13)

AP: Connecticut Sues For-Profit Nursing School That Closed Abruptly And Left Students In The Lurch 
Connecticut’s attorney general sued a for-profit nursing school and its owner Thursday, alleging they left hundreds of students in the lurch when the school abruptly closed its three campuses in the state in February while reaping millions of dollars in profits. (Collins, 7/13)